Before we get into this message, I need to get an addendum to the last message. Someone (in this case, a pastor) used the phrase “In your name” in closing a prayer – this too, is incorrect.
As I pointed out in the last message, we pray to the Father, in the name of the Son. “In your name” is praying the the Father in the Father’s name – completely bypassing Jesus.
Again, how are we saved? In Jesus’ name! Through who’s eyes does the Father see us as clean? Through Jesus’ eyes! We pray “In Jesus’ Name” – Not in “Your” or “His” Name.
Anyway, let’s get into today’s message.
Did you ever get to the point where the circumstances and issues just pile up so much that you want to just give up and throw in the towel?
“To heck with this – God’s not listening and He doesn’t care.” You may think.
James 1:2-4 says:
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
OK Lord, one or two I can handle – but all of these?
I thought that God wouldn’t give us more than we can handle!
Nowhere in the Bible does it say this. It’s a misinterpretaion of 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13:
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide an escape, so that you can stand up under it.
That key word – temptation – God won’t allow you to be tempted more than you can handle, He will always provide a way of escape from the temptation.
But the circumstances? God will keep piling them on until you surrender them to Him, God wants you to trust Him.
David learned this after awhile, and wrote in Psalm 61.
Hear my cry, O God;
Attend to my prayer.
From the end of the earth I will cry to You,
When my heart is overwhelmed;
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
For You have been a shelter for me,
A strong tower from the enemy.
I will abide in Your tabernacle forever;
I will trust in the shelter of Your wings. (Psalm 61:1-4)
Here at our house, we’re under a tremendous strain with people in our family ill – some with incurable cancer. The devil is shaken our family to the core. We’ve been praying fervently for healing for these family members – our prayer list is up to nine – just family, the entire list is much higher.
I just posted this image on Facebook:
I’ve also been sharing it with family. Why? Because just as it says, when Satan comes after our families, we need to go after him harder – we have that ability. We have been given the full armor of God.
We never throw in the towel – especially when it comes to the devil!
When it comes to illness, especially terminal illness – doctors don’t have the last word, neither does Satan – only God does. It’s that simple.
We can look at Job. He was afflicted with illness and on top of that – he lost everything. If there was anyone who should have been ready to throw in the towel, it was Job, but he didn’t, His wife was certainly ready – Job 2:9-10:
Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!”
But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
So even people close to you can try to sway your determination to trust the Lord. Job trusted the Lord (v. 10), his wife wasn’t ready to surrender to the Lord (v. 9) – she just wanted to surrender – throw in the towel and raise the white flag.
As I said earlier, our family has been going through quite a bit – between personal illnesses, those in our family and those of our friends.
A very close relative passed away this past Sunday. We visited her during her last hours – though we weren’t there when she went to be with the Lord – we know that’s where she is. We miss her immensely.
I won’t get into specifics here – just to say that our prayer list is getting quite long – and pastoral care is getting to the point where it’s getting tough to deal with here. I’m glad to have other local pastors to help with this.
Even pastors get to the point where they want to throw in the towel.
I know of a pastor that officiated nine funerals within a couple of weeks – all church members. This didn’t sit well with him. It’s enough to make anyone – pastor or not – very depressed.
This, my friend, is where surrender comes in.
To those in my family who were and are fighting terminal illnesses – we pray fervently that God turn it around and make it a testimony for the person and glory to God.
And as for the family member we lost this week, we were praying tbat either the Lotd turn it around, to take her quickly and painlessly. He did the latter. She was a godly woman and she’s now completely healed and in Heaven with the Lord.
We pray fervently, we call down heaven – but the Lord’s will, will be done. His will may not be our will, but it’s the perfect will – and good will come out of it.
In other words, we surrender to God’s will every time. Yes, we make our prayer reqeuests known. His answer may be Yes, it might be No, it might be Wait – but whatever it is – the answer will be perfect.
Yes, we’re sad and grieve for the loss of our family member, but we’re happy for her healing and knowing she’s with the Lord.
Remeber, we don’t throw in the towel – we surrender whatever is affecting us, to Jesus. Always. He will get us through anythingand everything.
The #Heb10 Church 